Pumpkin Hunting

Pumpkin Hunting
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

It is finally fallish here, and after we both shivered our way through getting ready this morning Jason agreed that it is time to turn on the heater. This is a good thing--we've been trying to act autumnly, what with the pumpkin hunting and the apple picking, but you'll notice that I'm wearing very short sleeves and sunglasses, and, though you cannot see it in the picture, Jason is wearing shorts. Sad.

The nice thing about living somewhere like DC is that fall does come eventually. In the meantime, we have plump pumpkins sitting on our steps to invite young trick-or-treaters on Wednesday (we've determined Halloween will be our best opportunity to meet the neighbors, NONE of whom have come over with cookies or even a hello!), and Jason even made a scrumptious apple pie this weekend (he is SO baking for Thanksgiving).

Happy Autumn!

Interesting.

At my writing class on Monday, my professor told me my sentences are too short, my style too matter-of-fact, and my writing not flowery enough.

Huh.

Who AM I?

Weekend

We have this cute little office in our new house with two desks, one Jason-sized and one Missy-sized, and as I'm typing up this post, Jason is behind me playing a "tribute to boy bands" collection on iTunes. I will never confess to being a fan of boy-bands (unless Rascal Flatts qualifies, which I do NOT believe), but the songs are providing a pretty thorough soundtrack to college. Scary.

It has been just the kind of weekend that provides time to do silly things like listen to NSync on iTunes, the first one since...May? For the most part, our housekeeping has been limited to upkeep (mowing the yard, cleaning the kitchen) instead of major new projects (unpacking the utility room, planting tulip bulbs, sewing curtains (thankfully done)). It has left us time for more important things. Like reading. And making cookies. And watching the Redskins lose. The Redskins have only lost this season when we have been watching the game. We must be a jinx.

One thing I did NOT do this weekend was get out my fall clothes. I bought two sweaters at the Gap over the summer (ironically, the two other girls I work with also bought two of the sweaters at the Gap. It's a good thing they came in lots of colors!), and I have finally been able to wear them. But I decided not to push my luck by actually packing away the warm-weather garb--less than a week ago it was 96 degrees here! Now it is nice and cool, and the tired, worn leaves look like they might have a chance to change colors before they fall to the ground, but I'm still hedging my bets...

Other things we have done this weekend:
* bought a shovel (a first!)
* watched more episodes from season one of the X-Files
* sprayed for spiders (last week when I put on a shirt one ran down my arm and I screamed like a girl, so Jason promised to spray. ew, ew, EW!)
* ate here and here
* bought tickets to this
* worked on my personal essay for my class. but not very much.

Bob and Kiki Reunite!

Bob and Kiki Reunite!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

So, Scott did a thorough job posting about our weekend together in the fair state of Kentucky here, and Jason posted briefly below, but I still (of course!) had to put in my two cents! For the first few years we all lived here in DC, we and SMC (then SMC-squared, the SMC-cubed...) were rather inseparable. I had lived here for about nine months before Krystal and I stumbled into Arlington First Church of the Nazarene, a week before Scott did the same and two weeks before Jason followed suit. In no time we were spending Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, even weeknights (a totally foreign concept in our current life) as a group. I distinctly remember the moment when, as we headed down the elevator from Bible Study at Jason's apartment to our car, I said to Krystal, "This is the first time I've been really happy here."

I had to tell that story to set up why our trip to Kentucky was so important. Scott and Lindsay moved there about a month before Jason and I got married, and they graciously made the trip to Idaho for our wedding. We had not seen them since then, so we felt it was imperative this fall that we make the trip to see them and Jake, who is now a little boy and not the baby we knew back at AFCN!

We had a fabulous time together--going to the races, hiking to Natural Bridge, eating really good grub, and, of course, playing games, which is how we used to spend every Friday and Saturday night. The Bob and Kiki story is too long (and, really, unexciting) to share in a blog entry, so just know that we laughed a lot. And, Chris and Angie, we missed you!

All of this happened between and around really great conversations, the type that have been lacking in our lives since they left the area. It was easy to pick up right where we left off--even with Jake, who had no problem deciding we were all pals!

Can't wait until the next time together--two years is too long!

Lining up at the Starting Gate

Lining up at the Starting Gate
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Missy and I decided to make a quick trip to Lexington, Kentucky to hang out with old friends Scott and Lindsay (and 3 year old Jake). After visiting Asbury Theological Seminary where Scott is studying, we sampled local culture by heading to the Keeneland Race Track. We weren't quite gussied up enough to blend in (high heels, summer dresses, suits and ties were more prevalent than not), but we enjoyed a couple of races in the grandstand under the blazing Kentucky sun.

Book Storm

Before
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

This is what our living room looked like last night. Proper bookshelving was the last piece of new-house-furniture purchased, delivered, and installed (huge trauma, but boring story). For the past three months all our books have been hiding in neatly stacked boxes along the living room wall, so it was a pleasure to meet them again as we organized them and put them in our bookshelf. (And by organizing, mostly I mean deciding which books were worthy of the new bookshelf and which ones would go downstairs on the old shelves.) Organizing them, by the way, was NOT the 15 minute job we expected, which we discovered about the time we took this picture. We have a LOT of books. And our new bookshelf? Full to the brim. But really fun. We are (for the most part) officially moved in!